WBKY-WUKY

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Given to the University of Kentucky by the class of 1995, Historical Marker #1966 commemorates radio stations WBKY and WUKY. UK began radio broadcasting in 1929 in cooperation with WHAS in Louisville. Each weekday, live music and educational programs were broadcast from the campus studio through WHAS. In 1944, UK established its own radio station on the campus and WBKY began broadcasting from McVey Hall. The station call letters were changed to WUKY in 1989. It is the oldest university-operated FM station in the U.S. and the first public radio station in Kentucky.

McVey Hall was named after the third president of the University of Kentucky, Frank L. McVey. He served as president for twenty-three years, from 1917-1940. Born in Wilmington, Ohio, in 1869, he received his BA from Wesleyan University and his Ph.D. from Yale. He taught at the Horace Mann School in New York City, Columbia Teachers College, and the University of Minnesota. He was President of the University of North Dakota before becoming president of the University of Kentucky in 1917. Memorial Hall, Margaret I. King Library, Alumni Gymnasium, and McVey Hall were all built during his tenure as president.

The UK Senior Challenge Historical Marker Project, administered by the Kentucky Historical Society, began in 1994 as a way for the graduating senior class to leave a memorial to the university. Every year since then, the UK historical marker committee has decided on the topic, raised the money, and written the text for the markers.

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McVey Hall: McVey Hall when it housed studios of WBKY-FM in 1950.
Photo courtesy of the University of Kentucky.Radio tower on McVey Hall: Radio tower on McVey Hall for radio station WBKY-FM in 1956.
Photo courtesy of the University of Kentucky.Recording Studio: Recording studio for WBKY in McVey Hall.
Photo courtesy of the University of Kentucky.Frank McVey: UK President Frank McVey in the studio of the radio station that later became WBKY.
Photo courtesy of the University of Kentucky.